Tagged: New York

Witz’s work is fine art painting and this is supposed to be a blog with a strict remit to celebrate the best in photography – but I don’t care. I’m posting this. His work is brilliant. His large, epic canvases are reminiscent of old master painting techniques, combined with a kind of HDR photorealism. And did I mentioned I think his work is brilliant.

With the increasing ubiquity of photographers and photographs, it was only a question of time before the fine art community posed the question: “What is a Photograph?” Interesting article from the nytimes about redefining photography in the modern age. Another semantics battle methinks: more for the benefit of curators and collectors who need to put things in quantifiable boxes with neat labels for financial reasons. Creators just want to create – others want to define.

I first noticed the powerful portrait work of British photographer, Lee Jeffries, on the image and video hosting site – flickr – last year. I was immediately struck by the humanity of his work and the virtuosity of his craftsmanship. His images render the invisible visible by taking intimate black and white portraits of homeless people in London, Paris, Rome, New York, Los Angeles and Las Vegas. Through the sheer force of his talent, his work has come to the attention of the photographic world, and in the process, has brought the plight of the homeless to a wider audience. Which must be very gratifying for Lee – because the latter was his inspiration and aim from the start. Great article from Time Magazine on Lee and his work. Bravo.

All the world’s a stage wrote Shakespeare and there is no brighter stage than New York. Photography does not need to be slick and sanctimonious all the time – sometimes it works best when it just celebrates what it is to be human. Warts and all. Brandon Stanton’s book of New York street photography combines the new confessional transparency of the social media age with the age-old aspiration of the lightness of being. New York is a world city that accommodates authenticity and eccentricity and Stanton captures that brilliantly. Please click on the link below and join the party.